In the following video presentation, Nasa Scientist Jennifer Heldmann explains very simply how the moon was initially formed and how it later helped Earth’s life creation process by stabilizing its environmental conditions. Videos after the jump.
By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
Searching through Flickr this morning for an illustration for a previous post, I accidentally stumbled across a great theme for this week’s geeky pics. It turns out that people just love taking pictures of cats and computers. Maybe this isn’t as sexy as last week’s pics, but maybe I’ll get an “awww!” out of you.
Helpfully pointing out missing semicolon in code:
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By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
Claiming to be tired of all the rip off Monty Python videos uploaded to YouTube over the years, the Monty Python members have decided to put a stop to it once and for all – by uploading the clips themselves.
They have created their own YouTube channel and they will be gradually uploading as much material as possible for free – but they are asking that users then click on the page links to buy their shows on DVD. Obviously this is not obligatory but it would be nice.
Prepare to see world work productivity plummet as people tune in to watch Monty Python videos! I for one am having problems concentrating today!
Why can’t all entertainers and TV studios have this refreshing approach to YouTube and video uploading? Instead of getting the RIAA on people and taking them to court, why not accept that YouTube and video uploading is here to stay? Why not embrace YouTube and the internet and do what Monty Python is doing? Set up their own user account, upload their own clips and invite people to click on links to buy merchandise?
Below is the official Python announcement video for the new YouTube channel and also one of the new clips that they have uploaded – the classic “Argument Clinic”.
By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
I have no idea why anyone would want to put themselves through something like this (you’d think they’d be glad to see the back of a regime like the USSR) but apparently Lithuanians can now go to a theme park to relive the days of the Soviet Union.
An enterprising Lithuanian decided to turn an ex-Soviet bunker into a place where nostalgic citizens can for a while pretend they are back in the old days. Young people can also visit and learn about their country’s past so I guess there’s an upside to the place too.
The entrance fee is $44 for two and a half hours (does it include popcorn and coke and sitting on Stalin’s knee?). You then step back into 1984 as a Soviet citizen. All your possessions, including money, cameras and phones are handed over and under the watchful eye of guards and guard dogs, you change into threadbare Soviet coats and are herded through the bunker (wow, I’m enjoying myself already!)
You then watch TV programs from 1984 (Sorry, no Muppets Show, they’re too capitalist!), wearing gas masks, learning the Soviet anthem under duress (“sing or we whip your ass you American CIA capitalist dog!”), eating typical Soviet food (hmmm, vodka soup!) and even have a concentration-camp-style interrogation and medical check (hey, get out of there!). Man, does the fun never end?
Reading the article, I was struck by the paragraph :
The Soviet Bunker is not a theme park for the faint-hearted; all of the actors involved in the project were originally in the Soviet army and some were authentic interrogators, however there are performances tailored specifically for school groups so they know when to cool it, too. Before heading back into the real world, participants are treated to a shot of vodka.
It makes me wonder if the guy in the picture at the top is one of the ones with a faint heart!
By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
Here’s some proof that industry self-policing actually works. The Better Business Bureau’s National Advertising Division released a a statement yesterday giving Cardo Systems a very public scolding for their YouTube videos that suggested that the heat coming from cell phones could pop popcorn kernels. (The implication being, of course, that if you buy one of Cardo’s pricey Bluetooth headsets, those scary radiation-emitting phones won’t fry your brain like an egg.)
NAD’s bottom line: “In non-traditional media, to the extent that advertising claims are communicated, advertisers are required to substantiate those claims with competent and reliable scientific evidence.”
NAD takes false advertising very seriously. Captain D’s is currently in the hot seat for alleged false advertising for the statement “Captain D’s offerings are ‘like the same thing we just ate’ at Red Lobster.” Huh, I wonder what “scientific evidence” they’re going to use to prove that one false? Still, fibbing about the tastiness of fried fish isn’t quite as reprehensible as trying to trick people suffering from diabetes.
In any case, Cardo’s videos are no longer available online.
It’s always nice to have extra protection for the gullible. After all, if you’re going to get duped by a YouTube video, it’s best that you don’t get taken for your money… though you still might get taken for a hour or two of your time if you’re particularly quick-to-trust:
By Stephanie Rogers
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
Opening the door to a new understanding of the physics underlying astrophysical phenomena like black holes and gamma ray bursts, scientists recently figured out how to create billions of particles of anti-matter in a laboratory. They took a gold sample the size of a head of a push pin, shot a laser through it and a cone-shaped plasma ‘jet’ of more than 100 billion positrons appeared.
The discovery will also give scientists new avenues of anti-matter research, which could reveal why more matter than anti-matter survived the Big Bang at the start of the universe.
“We’ve detected far more anti-matter than anyone else has ever measured in a laser experiment,” said Hui Chen, a Livermore researcher who led the experiment. “We’ve demonstrated the creation of a significant number of positrons using a short-pulse laser.” Chen and her colleagues used a short, ultra-intense laser to irradiate a millimeter-thick gold target. “Previously, we concentrated on making positrons using paper-thin targets,” said Scott Wilks, who designed and modeled the experiment using computer codes. “But recent simulations showed that millimeter-thick gold would produce far more positrons. We were very excited to see so many of them.”
Though laser production of anti-matter isn’t entirely new, researchers have never been able to produce so many particles of it before. Now, physicists envision a center for antimatter research that will use lasers as cheaper anti-matter factories.
How many Star Trek fans out there right now are trying to calculate just how much closer we just got to creating a real warp drive?
Via Physorg
We recently had a piece here on [GAS] featuring various geeky fan art, and had we known about what you’re about to see, we would have surely included it with the bunch.
This amazing time-lapse video shows the work of Robert Burden while he’s painting one of the most incredibly detailed pieces of geeky art ever created. Believe it or not, this 132″ by 82″ Voltron painting took a whole year to complete, over 900 hours of work. Once you’re done reading this post, be sure to head over to Robert’s site and check out the rest of this artwork.
[Via BoingBoing]
Thanks to a partnership between the Max Planck institute and MITs Media Lab, a whole new, revolutionary, zero-power display technology has been unveiled. The technology allows a picture of a still object to react to a light source just as it would in the real world. Check it out:
Now, try to imaine the possibilities of this technology when applied to giant bill boards and other forms of advertisement. As the sun moves across the sky, the object of an ad could slowly change to reflect the time of the day. The researchers involved in the project are currently looking at ways to improve the technology’s 3D effect so that if you move around a picture of a face, its eyes would stare at you–no matter where you are.
[Via Gizmodo]
by Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
It’s not as if it’s a new idea, but the expansion of Rock-Paper-Scissors that includes a poisonous reptile and a logical Vulcan may become more popular thanks to the newest episode of The Big Bang Theory. And it really does make a lot of sense, considering the limited number of outcomes in the original version. If you are unfamiliar with the expansion’s rules, let me break it down for you:
Scissors cut paper.
Paper covers rock.
Rock crushes lizard.
Lizard poisons Spock.
Spock smashes scissors.
Scissors decapitate lizard.
Lizard eats paper.
Paper disproves Spock.
Spock vaporizes rock.
Rock crushes scissors.
As a bonus, it kind of rhymes. Ready to try it out? Play it online first!
Of course, what I don’t understand about their problem in the last scene is why someone didn’t choose lizard. After all, if everyone else is putting up Spock, then the best choices are Lizard (which poisons Spock) or Paper (which disproves Spock), and Lizard also beats Paper (by eating it). Is loyalty to your favorite Vulcan really more important than winning?
By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
Out of all the things I’ve wondered about in life, one of them is whether Presidents, Prime Ministers and other heads of State can do private email and correspond privately with friends and family online. Putting aside whether they have the time to do it, the bigger questions are the practical, security, legal and logistical concerns. But this New York Times article is an excellent overview of the whole situation concerning what President-Elect Obama is facing when he takes office on January 20th.
Obama, apparently a big Blackberry fan, is going to have to give up his device because of the Presidential Records Act and of concerns over email security. He instead hopes to become the first US president to have a laptop on his desk in the Oval Office (what operating system will it have? Windows or Linux?!)
As the NYT article points out, President Bush stopped corresponding by private email because he was concerned that his private email correspondence might fall into the wrong hands and cause embarrassment. You only have to look at how a hacker broke into Governor Sarah Palin’s Yahoo account to know how much embarrassment can be brought upon a political figure with the contents of their email account. So as a politician (such as Obama) scales the vast political heights into the White House, ordinary things such as sending an email becomes an increasingly impossible task.
Then there’s the time factor. Presidents probably don’t have the time to do private email after 3.00am phone calls and saving the world.
But Obama is showing everyone that he is determined to change every rule that he encounters. So he may very well decide to set up [email protected] and start emailing from the Oval Office. He’s already sending out YouTube video addresses so anything is possible!